Russia's coronavirus death toll exceeds 18,000

First graders are seen in the classroom on the first day of the new school year, as schools reopen after the summer break and the lockdown due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Moscow, Russia.

Image: REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina First graders are seen in the classroom on the first day of the new school year, as schools reopen after the summer break and the lockdown due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Moscow, Russia.

Russia said on Wednesday 142 people had died from the new coronavirus in the last 24 hours, raising the official death toll to 18,135.

Russia's coronavirus taskforce reported 5,218 new cases, bringing its nationwide tally to 1,041,007, the fourth largest caseload in the world.